Wednesday, October 28, 2009

I took half day leave on Tuesday to treat mum and 2 aunts for lunch. There's this promotion at Putien that's giving 100% rebate back in vouchers for dining at their restaurant. (until 31 Oct if you are interested).

We came here because we think it's a really good promotion and also because it's a Heng Hwa restaurant. If you have read this food diary long enough, you would know that mum's Heng Hwa and these are her 'hometown' dishes. Mum's 2nd generation Heng Hwa and not born in PRC, so her memories of Heng Hwa food's through my maternal grandma's cooking. We are here to try the ones cooked by Heng Hwa chefs all 'imported' from Putien.

We were chatting the night before about the food that my maternal grandma cooked for mum last time. There many dishes but some are just too tedious so mum and my aunts don't cook them or have forgotten about it! Maybe one future project is to document grandma's recipe down. (those that mum and my aunts can remember.)

Anyway, here's the food we had at Putien.

One of the Heng Hwa delicacy is braised pig's intestines. If you notice, there's multiple layers unlike the normal ones you see. They literally stuff intestines inside intestines to have multiple layers of it! Think of the work!

I don't eat intestines at all, but since the 3 of them said I got to try it, I did. Hey, intestines are not bad! It doesn't smell awful like the ones you eat at Kuay Chap stall. These are tasty! Now, how can I describe the texture? It's like overnight braised egg (lor neng) that's been cooked twice. It has the firm and yet soft texture. Oh yes, dip it into their chilli sauce and it's yummy!

The Steamed Cold Pork Belly with Garlic. One of my favorite dishes. I just like the garlic taste of the sauce. The pungent and spicy taste will just jump start your taste senses!

While eating, we realize that Mum and both Aunt's vocab of Heng Hwa words fail big time! They can't speak anymore and have to think hard to remember the words to use. Totally utterly rusty!

So in order to help them remember, we asked the lady serving us (who is Heng Hwa by the way) to tell us the name of the dish in Heng Hwa. OK, so they could still understand but not me. You can't fault me, I am not HH. (or half only) LOL.. (But I did catch that she was saying for the next dish: Pig's Hand)

This is the Deep Fried Pig's Trotter with Pepper. This is yummy! I think pig trotters deep fried always taste good. I like the salty pepper seasoning on top of it. A bite into the crispy skin and the soft meat inside is just delightful.

The Mix Vegetables stir fry. Those things that look like onions are actually lily bulbs.
The bottom white pieces are fresh Huai San (Chinese Burdock) which is really nice. Huai San has this very nice texture to it. Maybe I should find this at the supermarket next time.

Another of my favorite dish is the Heng Hwa Bee Hoon. I remember mum cooking this when we were young. I like the very very fine bee hoon and lots of veggies and ingredients they put inside.

This is the Heng Hwa Lor Mee. Ya, the Lor Mee that's white and not dark in colour. You don't seem to see any 'dark' dishes in Heng Hwa cuisine. I wonder why?

It's very nice and the sweetness of the dish is from the seafood inside. The clams, prawns etc.These are hand made noodles too.

Guess what else we had? Hairy Crabs! It's the season for this delicacy. It was also our first time having Hairy Crabs! I will reserve that post for tomorrow. :-)

After we finished everything, we were presented the menu to choose desserts. We were told there's a promotion and for each order or crabs, we can choose a dessert. Asked what's the most popular desserts, it's Pumpkin paste and ice cream and also their 'Or Nee' (Yam Paste).

The next photo is my experiment with over exposure. haha.. Too bright eh! Never mind, you can see how the Or Ni looks like.

The next dessert is quite unique! Pumpkin with ice cream. It taste nice though.

We have tried the food at the different Putien but it seems that this one at the main branch taste the best.
Heng Hwa folks should eat this especially since they are having the promotion. hehe...